Akpabio, preferred but not ‘anointed’ candidate — Ndume

The senator representing Borno South District, Ali Ndume, on Tuesday, said the nomination of Godswill Akpabio by the All Progressives Congress National Working Committee does not imply Akpabio is the “anointed” candidate of the party for Senate President of the 10th National Assembly. Ndume said this while speaking on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’. The lawmaker was reacting to the party’s declaration of Akpabio’s nomination as the leader of the 10th Assembly. The , on Monday, reports that while Akpabio was nominated for Senate President, the party nominated Abbas Tajudeen as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Ndume said that Akpabio is only a preferred choice of the party which does not make him the automatic leader of the House, adding that the senators would still have to vote to determine the leader of the red chamber. He said, “I don’t think anointed is the right word to use. The APC has Akpabio as its preferred candidate, that would be a better word,” he said. “Not anointed but preferred candidate. Because if it is anointed then it is fait accompli, which is not the case. We have to go into the chamber and vote, and it can go anywhere. “Akpabio is going to be first among the equals as president of the senate. It is going to take the remaining 108 of us to restore integrity to the Senate.”